Mission and Vision

A fish farm.

Fundación Trópico is a Civil Society organization which promotes the conservation of nature and the environment, involving the human being as a major actor given his/her capacity to decide and to take responsibility for the protection of living and non-living beings, based on an integral vision of life processes.

Vision: Fundación Trópico hopes to consolidate itself as a regional energizer in the promotion of participative conservation processes based on the visions of different territories.

Objective: To contribute to the conservation of nature and the environment as a principle of life as well as to the ecological and social processes which support and perpetuate conservation.

Project History

Fundación Trópico is an environmental non-governmental non-profit organization, created on the 17th May 1995, at the Town Hall of Santiago de Cali, Colombia, South America. It is guided by the principles of

• respect and protection of all forms of natural life and the environment that supports them;
• responsibility and commitment to the actions which are developed in favour of the environment, in these and future generations;
• equity and social justice which promote fair access to the benefits of conservation by different sectors of Colombian society according to ethnicity, culture, economic situation, gender and age among other factors; and
• a holistic approach which allows a vision of conservation based on the different dimensions of nature and humanity.

Target area and populations

Fundación Trópico develops its actions especially in the Valle de Cauca Department, Colombia, with rural and urban communities, ethnic minorities, farmers, men, women, children and young people. It campaigns for environmental protection, equitable sustainable development, the conservation of biodiversity, organic agricultural production and the strengthening of organizational processes.

Village along the river.

Activities

• Strengthening and generating social and citizens’ processes for organization and participation which increase capacity for democratic decisions and environmental management.
• Generating and supporting communication, environmental awareness-raising, education and training processes which aim to increase the capacity for dialogue and decision-making around environmental conservation.
• Supporting biodiversity conservation actions via the support, establishment and management of protected areas.
• Supporting production systems based on ecological principles (organic agriculture) which favour the conservation of forest and agricultural biodiversity, food sovereignty and the recovery and strengthening of traditional sustainable cultures.
• Promoting territorial environmental planning processes based on a concept of autonomous development.
• Supporting fair organic market processes alongside producers and consumers.
• Supporting and developing the participative, basic and applied research processes necessary for conservation.

These products help support the fundación.

Partners

We have worked in conjunction with local municipal authorities, the Valle Department, environmental authorities, the European Commission, grassroots Afro-Colombian and Indigenous organizations, NGOs, the Nature Conservancy, EEF, The University of Florida, and other NGOs.

Contact Information

ANA ELVIA ARANA
Fundación Trópico
Calle 3 No 16-11
Cali, COLOMBIA

Telefax 57 2 5575169